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Mr Haarde had denied the charge and the three others made against him.

The special court of impeachment was set up in 1905, but the Haarde case was its first trial.

He is the only political leader in the world to face prosecution over the crisis in the world economy.

"It is absurd," Mr Haarde told reporters after the verdict.

"It is obvious that the majority of the judges have found themselves pressed to come up with a guilty verdict on one point, however minor, to save the neck of the parliamentarians who instigated this."